bratzillazfandomcom-20200223-history
Dolls
Bratzillaz, while an ever-growing and ever-evolving multimedia franchise, is at its core a brand that revolves around dolls. A variety of merchandise may come and go, but the dolls are Bratzillaz's raison d'être. For this reason, all pieces of Bratzillaz fiction are written and released to promote the dolls. This isn't to say all dolls are promoted and available equally, or since 2012 that all fictional fashion is eventually produced as a doll, but in the bigger picture it's the dolls that lead the franchise. Terminology * Case: Cases are the selection of items within an assortment that are made available in a certain period of time. For instance, if an assortment contains dolls W, X, Y, and Z and the assortment's cases contain five dolls, then the first case could be filled 2xW 2xX and 2xZ, with Y omitted from the first case. The second case could then contain 1xW 1xX 2xY and 2xZ, and a third case could hold 3xX 2xY and 1xZ, and so on. Cases can be changed in as little as three months time and once's a case has been changed, the old one no longer can be ordered. * Cast: A cast is the product created with a mold. That is, a liquid material is forced into a mold and made to solidify, causing the material to take on a form opposite to the one of the mold. The mold is subsequently removed and the cast taken out to be worked into a doll with other, complementary casts. * Faceup: The paint on a doll's face is what is referred to as the faceup. * Lineup: The Bratzillaz doll lineup is divided over two periods: Spring and Fall. Spring dolls start hitting stores in October and Fall dolls start hitting stores in May. * Mold: A mold is the tool with which casts are created. That is, a mold is filled up with liquid material that is made to solidify inside, causing the material to take on a form opposite to the one of the mold. The mold is subsequently removed and the cast taken out, after which the mold can be reused for the next cast. Since one mold represents multiple casts, the term is also used to talk about a cast or even a full set of casts in general. * Price point: Big brand toys are manufactured with the knowledge there has to be something available for every wallet. Price points are set store prices (with a small range each) which serve as a guiding point for the manufacturer in deciding how to finance the design a particular new toy. Low price points correspond to "budget" toys and high price points to "deluxe" toys, but are more specific as to how budget or deluxe a certain toy is. * Scalping: Scalping is the practice of buying rare and popular toys with the specific goal of reselling them for a profit. Not only do scalpers profit from the shortage they help create, their actions also get in the way of those who enjoy the 'hunt' for new toys. * Sculpt: The design of any separate component of the doll as it is without paint, hair, and accessories. * Shelfwarming: When a particular item's availability far exceeds the demand (at the time) and it stays on shelves for much longer than it should, it's a shelfwarmer. 'Basic' Cloetta Spelletta and the four regular First Edition dolls are examples of Bratzillaz shelfwarmers. * Shortpacking: Stores order cases from the manufacturer and then make the contents individually available on their own shelves. New cases are only ordered when enough dolls of a previously ordered case have been sold, regardless of which dolls of it remain on the shelves. This means that, for instance, if a case contains five dolls set up as 1xX 3xY and 2xZ, only one doll X is available per case, meaning that it requires the sale of those other four dolls before another doll X will appear on the shelves. Dolls that are barely in a case compared to the other dolls are shortpacked, although the term is often reserved for dolls that never get a compensating proper amount in another case either. Midnight Beach Jade J'Adore and 'Magic Night Out' Meygana Broomstix are examples of shortpacked Bratzillaz dolls. * Toy swapping: Toy swapping is the practice of buying a toy from a store, taking it out of the box, putting another toy in, and then returning that toy to the store to get the money back. It is a form of theft with the potential to cause further harm, because the returned toy is put back on the shelves. People who buy toys for themselves aren't likely to be tricked because they know what they are looking for, but there is a good chance someone who only buys toys as gifts is. Due to stricter store rules in other countries, the USA is the only one where toy swapping really happens. * Variant: Sometimes, a doll or its accessories are manufactured one way for a while and then there's a change made in the process, resulting in two (or more) versions of a specific doll. These versions are called variants and the one initially produced tends to be the rarer one. Examples of Bratzillaz variants include Core Sashabella Paws (mask), Switch-A-Witch Wave 1 Single Pack and Double Pack, and 'Switch-A-Witch Wave 2' Single Pack and Double Pack. * Wave: The entirety of an assortment usually is not in stores all at once, but the contents are released in steps. These steps are called waves, which is only a loosely defined term. Playsets are generally excluded from counting as a wave on their own, but they don't have to, and it depends on the nature of a multipack if it is considered a separate wave or not. Category:Dolls